We reconsider the question of whether beta-centric hedge fund activity is predictive of superior performance. We construct a measure of overall beta activity of fund managers, Beta Activity, and find evidence that top beta active managers deliver superior long term out-of-sample performance...

Utilizing several models and regression analytics I compare factor attribution, strategies, and active management fees for 11,394 U.S. equity mutual funds and a matched sample of hedge funds from 1994 to 2010. There is modest evidence to support alpha delivery by mutual and hedge fund managers...

We investigate the determinants and performance implications of cash holdings for a large sample of actively-managed equity funds domiciled in the European Union (EU). In line with recent evidence from the US, we observe that cash holdings are strongly influenced by a fund's fee structure, past...

In the presence of rising concern about climate change that potentially affects risk and return of investors’ portfolio companies, active investors might have dispersed climate risk exposures. We compute mutual fund covariance with market-wide climate change news index and find that high...

We find evidence for the beta anomaly in mutual fund performance. This anomaly is not accounted for in the standard four-factor framework, nor by the addition of a BAB factor to the benchmark model. We identify the active component of alpha (i.e., active alpha) not attributable to the passive...

Recent research reveals that hedge fund returns exhibit a range of different,possibly non-linear pay-off patterns. It is difficult to qualify all these patternssimultaneously as being rational in a traditional framework for optimal financial decisionmaking. In this paper we present a simple...

Smart beta exchange-traded funds (SB ETFs) have caught the attention of investors due to their supposed ability to offer a better risk-return trade-off than traditionally structured passive indices. Yet, research covering the performance of SB ETFs benchmarked to traditional cap-weighted market...

Using a sample of 164 smart beta exchange-traded funds (ETFs) during 2003–2014, I analyze whether these funds beat their benchmarks by tilting their portfolios to various factors. I also test if smart beta funds harvest factor premiums more efficiently than their traditional cap-weighted...

We empirically analyse the returns of both Italian and round-trip open-end funds managed by Italian asset management companies (SGRs) in the period 2003-2008. Taking into account a modified version of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), we estimated a performance measure for each asset...

We provide novel evidence that hedge fund performance is persistent following weak hedge fund markets, but is not persistent following strong markets. Specifically, we construct two performance measures, DownsideReturns and UpsideReturns, conditioned on the level of overall hedge fund sector...